Kyiv: Ukraine will impose new sanctions against Russia if it refuses to release Ukrainian sailors
Ukraine will introduce new sanctions against Russia if it ignores the decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to free the Ukrainian sailors.
“Ukraine secured a decisive diplomatic victory and a powerful additional international legal trump card in order to achieve the earliest possible release of our sailors,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk said about the tribunal’s decision while discussion the matter with Ukrinform.
"If Moscow decides to ignore this decision, then we will promote the idea of introducing new - Hamburg - sanctions against Russia," he added.
On May 25, 2019, the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that Russia should release the 24 Ukrainian sailors who were captured in November 2018 as well as return the three Ukrainian ships.
On November 25, 2018, Russian security forces seized three Ukrainian warships in the neutral waters of the Black Sea. The 24 person crew aboard the two boats and a tug were taken to Simferopol, where a Russian-controlled court arrested all the Ukrainians. The next day, the sailors were transported to Moscow, where they remain to this day.